Rusty Steel
by KidFlash13
Summary: One-sided Neverland (Conner x Wendy) with a reflection of the team's last mission and Conner's life for the past year. Conner's partial POV, rated K for mentions of lobotomization. This contains spoilers for every episode up to and including S2E10 "Before the Dawn."
1. Chapter 1

Conner never thought he would feel weightless on his own again. Checking his feet for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, he saw that they were still firmly on the ground. When Conner let his thoughts roam again, they drifted back to Wendy Harris. Had she caused this feeling? Suddenly he regretted never looking up her background; what if she was some villain, slowly turning him into an exploding balloon? He had never felt this way with anyone, even M'Gann had only succeeded in making him less grumpy than usual. He ran his hand through his hair and thought back to his 6th birthday. Sitting on the bench with Wendy gave him the greatest sense of freedom that he'd had in a while, but reverted him back to the goofy klutz he was in high school-when he was just learning about life and how to control his powers. She was his first real friend outside of the team, and he still felt guilty at the fact that Karen and Mal had been welcomed with open arms, and she was sitting on the sidelines, oblivious to what they did for the world.

'Ugh. Enough.' He told himself. Conner knew there were way too many things he had to worry about besides his civilian problems. The destruction of the Cave had rendered him homeless; sure, he still had his college dorm to stay in, but the Cave was where he grew up. All of his best memories with his friends took place in the recesses of the mountain, and now it was reduced to pieces of rubble and ash, left to fade away and be forgotten by all. He hates it- being forgotten- it's why he's dedicated himself to memorizing everything about the Justice League's past. Everywhere around him, things were constantly being broken past repair and replaced, but not him- no, the indestructible boy of steel was the one left behind to deal with all of the change.

What about Aqualad? Conner thought he would be the first to understand that parents didn't define a person. After all, Aqualad was his confidant when he briefly switched sides, before he realized the only reason he wanted to see Luthor was to get close to Clark. Conner still remembered Aquaman's flinch at the usually calm teen's rant about why he was going to join his father against them all. Both sides were hurting; Conner could hear it in their struggling heartbeats. He didn't understand how people (and Atlanteans) so fragile could set out to purposefully hurt others when they know it's going to hurt everyone, including themselves, in the end.

Aqualad's lobotomization had had been long coming though; he had killed one of their best friends and had captured M'Gann's only family and boyfriend. Conner wondered if Kaldur was finally happy, if he was with Tula somewhere, or if he was alone- stuck in the empty shell of his body, internally screaming for help that would never come. Sometimes that's what he felt like, even when he was with the new team; everyone had their own lives now, and they didn't interact like they did in the golden days of the original team. The feeling of loneliness welled up like a fountain until Conner was able to pound some villains, and he found that he managed it pretty well. He never once misused his power like M'Gann. Even if Aqualad was evil, how could she begin to justify ripping the memory from his mind- she knew he was good at one point of his life, so why did she treat him like any other villain they met?

Slowly his life's happy façade was crumbling; his home was destroyed, friends became enemies, the sweetest of temperament became dark and cruel, and people were fading in and out of his life like channels on a satellite television. First Tula had died, then Clark had gone to space, and now Artemis and Kaldur were wrenched away from him as well. It was too much to take in at once, and he wondered if it was a curse or blessing to be the never-changing one. He remained a constant in others' lives, but they could never do the same for him. The children of earth are ever fading, but he follows their paths and intertwines with them just like any other mortal.

With each revolution of the earth comes a new day, a new chance at life. Maybe tomorrow he would go see Wendy and ask her to dinner. After all, as Clark put it once: "No one can resist Ma Kent's homemade apple pie."

**I've never been a true fan of SuperMartian... I mean really, M'Gann's the ultimate cradle-robber because Superboy was only a week old when she met him. :/ If you are a SuperMartian fan, please don't flame this fic because you dislike the pairing, after all I never did that to you.-KF13  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Life was moving on, and Superboy went with it. He already knew and appreciated the little parts of life, like the birds' five-note greeting chirps at six A.M. every morning, but he came to cherish them more than ever. Everywhere floral and animal life sprung up around him, and encouraged more life as the embers of a great fire spread their warmth. Despite the fall of the mountain, and the loss of his friends, all seemed well in his world.

The reason he was so calm was because he'd been seeing more of a certain high-school friend these days. Wendy Harris; the wind rustled through Conner's hair at the thought of her, like it knew his hair was supposed to be scuffed at her approach. As his world grew smaller, he found that she was a constant happiness brought into the dark recesses of his thought. Wendy had decided that they didn't see enough of each other, and insisted that they meet at 'the bench' at least twice a week. Conner liked these times with her, and found it hilarious that being 'benched' used to be the ultimate punishment for athletes. If this was punishment, he must've fallen through the looking glass, but he'd gladly cause trouble around campus. The spunky cheerleader always had an ear to lend, and a lot more life experience than the six-year old. Conner began to experience life through different eyes after all that had occurred.

With this new turn in life, it seemed to him that anything could happen.

**I'm not going to continue this particular story, but I'm going to try out a Neverland one-shot series. If you have any topics that you would like to see, feel free to PM me or leave a review. –KF13**


End file.
